Over the Moon
by GiLaw
Summary: It's been over a week since Joy and Sadness's little adventure and Joy can't help but feel not as optimistic as she usually was. She feels bad about Bing Bong's sacrifice and has promised to take Riley to the moon for him but she doesn't know how. Then that gum jingle appears and a little idea comes to Joy's head but how will she be able to keep her promise and keep Riley happy?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys!**

 **So the other day I finally went to the cinema and saw the movie Inside Out.**

 **And I have to say- It's the best animated movie I've seen since Frozen.**

 **Honestly, I could go on about how much I love this movie but that would take up another fic.**

 **Anyway there were some pointers that I saw throughout the movie and some topics I really wanted to write on. Even though it's been a while since I've seen the movie, I'm gonna give it a shot since it's one of those movies I love and remember well enough to try and write on it.**

 **One last note: No, I don't ship Joy and Bing Bong. I like them as tight friends but I wouldn't ship them as a couple. (If I did, I'd probably have like seven fics about them out by now! X'D)**

 **Anyway, enjoy! ;D**

 **Chapter 1**

 **A Promise to Keep**

Joy stood there at the control table pressing a few buttons here and there as she watched Riley goof around with her parents. She smiled a little as she heard Riley squeal with laughter sounding ever so joyful once again.

Yet even with the wonderful sound of laughter ringing around in Headquarters, she couldn't help but sigh a little.

Why was that?

After that crazy adventure she had just been through with Sadness she had thought she would be much more excited to see Riley happy again.

And . . . yeah she was.

It was great to finally let Riley be that bouncy happy girl again.

Then why didn't she feel as happy as she thought she would?

She was doing her best to stay positive but there was just something getting to her and it was really bugging her!

Most of the time she tried to convince herself that it was because she knew she wouldn't be able to keep Riley happy forever. And yeah that was true but at the same time, it was more than that.

That one thing that was bugging her was that she knew the only real reason she was here in Headquarters (along with Sadness) was because of the sacrifice Riley's old imaginary friend Bing Bong had made.

Oh Bing Bong.

Why did he have to di- get forgotten about?

She had been so positive they could both make it out of that dump, he shouldn't have leapt off!

And . . . RRRR, it was really frustrating! And frustration coming from someone like Joy . . . that just didn't feel right.

She had promised to take Riley to the moon for Bing Bong and she was willing to keep that promise but . . . she didn't really now how.

Trying to ignore the upsetting thoughts, Joy bit her lip, mustered the most positive smile she could manage and pressed a few more buttons to keep Riley going. She was Joy and she had a job to do.

"Hey," a husky little voice whispered beside her.

"Oh!" Joy jumped a little. Even Sadness's soft tone could come unexpected when one had their mind occupied with something else. "Sadness! Didn't see you there!" She tried to laugh to show she was alright but it came out like she more uneasy than happy.

"Are you okay?" Sadness murmured.

Joy tightened her lips. She had never realized how good Sadness could be at noticing how someone was feeling and how she always wanted to help.

"Yeah! Yeah I'm fine!" Again, she tried to chuckle and again it didn't come out as delightful as she had hoped. "Why wouldn't I be, you know? I'm Joy, I'm always happy!"

Sadness looked concerned. "Are you sure?"

"Y- Yeah of course I am!" Joy replied a little too quickly. "Now- um . . . Why don't you um . . ." Wow, way to kill the mood here. "Um . . . Maybe you should check out some of the manuals, see if there's anything you could recap on! Yeah, that would be fun!"

"So _that's_ how you're gonna hide the fact that _something's_ wrong?"

Joy jumped again only to find Disgust, Anger and Fear all staring at her, Disgust looking unimpressed, Anger looking annoyed and Fear looking worried.

"What? Me? No, nothing's wrong!" she lied, clenching her fists a little nervously. "So . . . shouldn't you be doing your duties or something?"

"So you're gonna treat us like some idiots who don't know what's going on?" Anger demanded. "Is that it?"

"Well not exactly-"

"Joy, we all know that something's up," said Disgust, folding her arms. "Come on, spit it out." Her eyes widened at what she just said. "Not literally though cause that would be gross!"

"You didn't bring anything back from that long term memory place did you?" Fear asked nervously. He suddenly rushed up to Joy and started examining her like he was looking for something important under the chair or something. "You didn't bring any diseases? Anything? DID YOU?" He then rushed over to Sadness and started doing the same thing.

Joy stared at him. "No Fear, we didn't bring anything back with us." Her fake smile slowly dropped at the thought of it.

"Well then what is it?" Anger demanded.

"Guys, seriously, it's nothing!" Joy lied. "I'm just a little worked up after that event in the long term memory place! Give me a couple of days and I'll be fine!"

"It's been over a week," Disgust frowned.

"Over a week!" Joy pretended to look surprised and tried to plaster another fake smile. "Wooooow, over a week, huh? Well you know what they say! Time sure flies by when you're having fun, right!"

The other emotions just stared at her, filling Headquarters with an awkward silence. Joy blinked and stood there glancing between all four of them, her mouth twitching as she tried to keep that smile on her face.

Then Sadness spoke.

"She's a little sad because she couldn't bring Bing Bong back to Headquarters."

"Who?" Anger Fear and Disgust repeated all in unison.

"Oh don't worry about it, it's nothing really," Joy chuckled uneasily. "He's just Riley's old imaginary friend!"

"You mean that guy with the trunk and the weird hat?" Disgust pulled a face.

"It's alright! It's alright!" said Joy. "We really shouldn't be getting worked up about this. I mean let's face it, Riley's twelve now, she's a little old for an imaginary friend . . . she'll have to . . ." Her smile dropped. "She'll have to forget about him sometime. . ."

Sadness stepped up over to her. "I'm sorry we couldn't bring him back."

"Awww, it's okay Sadness! See? I'm fine! We'll move on, don't ya worry!" Why was smiling, Joy's favourite thing to do proving so hard for her? Trying not to get too upset, she whipped around and started pressing some buttons on the control table again to keep herself busy.

"And you're not gonna tell us anything about what exactly happened? That's really nice of you, Joy!" Anger spat.

Joy didn't respond, just kept her back turned on her fellow emotions. She was trying to stay positive, she really was but for some reason it was just so hard. She wanted to take Riley to the moon somehow for Bing Bong but she just didn't know how . . .

Suddenly a memory tube appeared from the ceiling, carrying a golden memory orb with it. The orb flashed and shone it's memory on the screen while all five emotions looked up at it . . .

 _"Triple Dent Gum, we'll make you smile-"_

"Oh for-" Anger clenched his fists, furious steam beginning to seep from him. "I swear if they send that stupid jingle one more time-"

Joy just stood there, watching as the jingle played over again. She turned around, staring at the memory orb . . .

"Joy . . ." Sadness murmured. "Are you okay?"

Again Joy didn't respond but approached the memory, glancing up at the ceiling then at the orb. A small grin spread across her face and this time it was a more natural grin.

"Oh no!" Fear realized what she was thinking and rushed up to her. "Noooo no no no no no! You are NOT going back there! No one is going back to that place!"

Joy just lowered her eyebrows. "Maybe it could work."

"You're joking," Disgust muttered.

"No I'm not!" Joy's grin grew wider. "Maybe there are some really good old memories out there . . ."

"No! Joy, listen to me!" Fear ordered frantically. "You can't go back there!"

"It's worth a shot!"

"But if you go out there, you won't be able to keep Riley happy," Sadness murmured.

Joy froze. Oh yeah . . .

"Yeah you're right," she muttered in disappointment. "Okay, forget it! I never said anything!"

Fear relaxed and exhaled a huge sigh of relief. "Alright. It's okay everybody! We're all safe," he said, walking off.

Joy sighed too and watched as the gum jingle played over and over again. It was annoying, for a wonderful moment, she really thought it was going to work . . .

"You're not really thinking of going back there, are you?" Sadness whispered.

"Well I was," Joy muttered, folding her arms.

"Oh . . . okay then." Sadness nodded and slinked off leaving Joy to her own devices.

Maybe it could work.

It was worth a shot.

But how would she keep Riley happy?

She wanted to keep Riley happy but she also wanted to keep her promise to Bing Bong.

What to do . . .?

Sighing again, Joy flopped onto the control table and fiddled around with the buttons.

It was times like these where being optimistic about something wasn't as easy as she would have liked . . .

 **Well! There's Chapter 1 done!**

 **Wow, this is the first time in ages I've written something for a different category! And I'm happy with it!**

 **So what do you think Joy should do? I'm curious for some ideas you have! Like I said before, I don't ship Joy and Bing Bong, I just really like the friendship they had. Just so you know :)**

 **Please Read and Review and check out my other stories and until next time- Hey, I wonder what MY emotions get up to in my head sometimes . . .**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys!**

 **So as you probably all know by now, I love the movie Inside Out.**

 **In fact I love it so much, I went to the theatres and saw it a second time!**

 **Yup, I think Inside Out is now my new favourite movie!**

 **(Sorry Goonies I don't care if your movie has Corey Sparx Feldman in it, Inside Out is just so freaking good)**

 **Anyway, on with the story! Enjoy! ;D**

 **Chapter 2**

 **No Way**

"Come on . . . dump, dump . . . faded memories . . ." Joy tightened her lips and threw away another manual, stacking it on top of a stack of seemingly endless mind manuals while the other four emotions stared at her, not sure what to do.

"Joy come on, give it up," Disgust pleaded.

"I don't think she's listening to you," said Fear as Joy picked up another manual and started searching through that one.

"Joy! Forget it!" Anger groaned. "It's pointless! Bing Bong is gone! He's forgotten! Riley's grown up! She doesn't need an imaginary friend!"

"Well that wasn't very nice," Sadness murmured, miserable as usual.

Anger snorted and rolled his eyes at this.

"Joy . . ." Sadness headed over to her and lowered the open manual in her hands. "Just give it a rest."

"Sadness-" Trying not to get irritated, Joy pulled the manual from her grip and continued browsing. "Just a few more minutes!"

"But I read all the manuals," Sadness murmured in a pitiful tone. "It's not possible to retrieve a faded memory from the dump."

Her words seemed to have smacked Joy in the face as her head whipped up, her eyes wide with disbelief, her mouth literally gaping. The manual would have fallen to the ground if Sadness hadn't been clutching onto it.

"You're joking."

Sadness's already upset face crumpled even more as she shook her head. "I'm sorry Joy."

Joy just stood there motionless, not sure how to react. The reality of it all . . . it was too real, too much . . .

"Is she gonna faint?" Fear muttered, backing away slowly.

Joy snapped out of it, shaking her head quickly. "U- Nooo, no, no, I'm fine, I'll be fine!" Her face dropped. "Yeah, I'll be alright." She sighed loudly, flopping onto her bottom, not sure what to feel, staring into nowhere. Sadness took note of this and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Are you really sad?"

"Well . . ." Joy hesitated a little, twaddling her fingers as she tried to think of something remotely positive to say. "I'm not _sad_ , I'm just a little . . . bummed out right now. Just . . ." She sighed again. "I need some time to think."

"Right." Sadness nodded and trudged off while Joy just sat there, her eyes still staring at pretty much nothing.

"Soooo . . ." Disgust pulled a face. "Are we just gonna leave her there or-?"

"Well _I'm_ not gonna stand here and watch everyone moping and doping all day long!" Anger replied, stomping over to the sofa and pulling out a newspaper.

"Okay, I'm gonna clean up all these manuals here," said Fear, rushing over to the massive stack and beginning to sort them out. "We don't want these getting lost. And if they FELL on someone-"

"Whatever," Disgust muttered. "I've got some nails to file."

Sadness just stood where she was glancing at Joy who hadn't budged from the spot since . . . It had been a while since she had been there actually, browsing through all those manuals. Of course she felt bad, she was Sadness after all but this time she felt particularly upset for her friend. She had never really seen her like this and she wished she could help but at the same time she knew that there wasn't much hope. She didn't feel there was no hope like she did in a lot of situations. She _knew_ there was little to know chance to getting Bing Bong back . . .

Joy glanced down at the manual in front of her, still searching for something that would somehow help Riley remember her old imaginary friend again. There _had_ to be something in one of these manuals that could help her bring Bing Bong back, there just _had_ to be! She refused to believe that was it for him! It couldn't be! She threw that manual over, nearly hitting Fear in the progress since he was trying to rearrange the many manuals she had searched through. He managed to dodge it okay but freaked out, yelling stuff about comas and paper cuts and all that but Joy just ignored this and jumped to her feet and picked another manual from the bookshelf, searching through the chapters frantically.

She couldn't stop now.

She had a promise and she was going to keep it.

Come on, a way to bring back those good old memories . . .

Maybe she could contact the mind workers and get them to bring back some memories?

But she didn't really know how to get in touch with the mind workers.

She'd recall some memories of Bing Bong if she could but again, she just didn't know how. Yeah, she knew how to recall any good old long term memory when she wanted to but all of a sudden she couldn't remember any real long term memories of those wonderful times Riley had had with him.

All she could remember was Bing Bong himself and the band with Riley and his magic bag and his rocket . . .

That rocket . . .

 _'Focus Joy! You've got a promise to keep! There's no way you're breaking it now!'_

Shaking her head, Joy lowered her eyebrows and turned the page, searching for an opportunity, any at all. She wasn't giving up on that promise, not now, not never.

Riley _would_ remember Bing Bong.

And he _would_ get the chance to take her to the moon.

She would make sure of that.

 **Well I hope you liked that!**

 **And I know I've said it before but I'm gonna say it again just to make sure: I don't ship Joy and Bing Bong. I just see them as really tight friends.**

 **Reviews would be great! Ideas would be even better! This is kinda one of my fics where I make it up as I go along cause I'm so excited to try and write something new, you know?**

 **See ya! ;D**


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